Managerial openness and employee voice: a moderated mediation model

Purpose: Drawing on a costs-benefit analysis perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between managerial openness and employee voice and its boundary conditions. Design/methodology/approach: This study collected three waves of data by surveying 326 pairs of employees and their supervisors. The hypotheses were tested by using Hayes’s (2018) SPSS macro application with a bootstrap approach to obtain confidence intervals. Findings: Managerial openness facilitates employee voice by decreasing perceived voice costs. Felt obligation positively moderates the direct as well as the indirect relationship between perceived voice costs and employee voice. Originality/value: This study uncovers the alternative mechanism underlying the relationship between managerial openness and employee voice as well as the boundary condition of this relationship.